SOME term-limited City Council members are fund-raising at such a furious pace that lobbyists are actually squawking that they’re getting squeezed. “I have never seen it this frenetic,” said one well-known lobbyist. “They’re all hitting us over the head. We’re all complaining to one another about the fund-raising.”

Normally, lobbyists are only too happy to hand over campaign checks to elected officials – a tried-and-true method for gaining entrée and making friends.

But, as one lobbyist said, the number and frequency of campaign invitations seems to have exploded as the next round of term limits hovers over the council in 2009.

“All these term-limited people seem to feel they need to capitalize now,” said a second lobbyist.

Lobbyists singled out Eric Gioia (D-Queens), a probable contender for public advocate, as the most aggressive fund-raiser. “He makes everyone else pale by comparison,” griped one critic. Gioia said that’s puzzling since he’s only held one big-ticket event this year. All his others, said Gioia, were priced as low as $10 and designed to get people involved in the political process. “What I find is people are quite eager to show up,” he said.

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Insiders say budget negotiations now under way between the City Council and the administration are so amicable that a number of new “joint initiatives” are likely to emerge.

“There are much more substantive discussions than when Gifford was around,” one insider told The Post’s Frankie Edozien, referring to former Speaker Gifford Miller.

The source said both sides have already privately agreed to fund several after-school programs.